Review: Foursevens Preon PenLight Olight P20 O'Pen (2xAAA, XP-G2)

Foursevens Preon PenLight (2xAAA, XP-G2)

kresil's Overall Rating: ★★★★★

Summary:

Battery: 2xAAA (no 10440!)
Switch: reverse clicky
Modes: 3 modes w/ mode memory (-Lo-Med-Hi-)
LED Type: Cree XP-G2 CW
Lens: glass
Tailstands: no
Price Paid: 50$ tax day sale
From: Foursevens.com
Date Ordered: 2013-04-15

Pros:

  • 2013 World's Best Penlight
  • powerful serious lighting tool with actual 180 Fenix lumens on Eneloop verified
  • 4 color choices
  • highly likable elegant design, sleek and compact, a real pleaser to everyone — except for the color maybe
  • very nice construction and high build quality with precision machining and excellent fit and finish
  • unfailing mechanical switch operation, reliable
  • easy fast lockout, could be used for twisty operation
  • great quality square-cut threads; thick, long'n deep
  • should appeal to girls, ladies, women or moms or females
  • really perfect for non-flashaholics, gift, or EDC
  • also for office ninjas and discrete concealed carry
  • simple interface
  • hybrid mode memory, no stand-by current
  • beautiful beam
  • no greenishness nor tint variations, newest Cree XP-G2 LED with pure white tint
  • SS steel bezel protects recessed glass lens
  • secure fixed-position strong SS pocket clip, also serves as natural anti-roll device
  • current regulated, no PWM, no stroboscopic effect
  • industry leading top efficient driver regulating brightness stabilization
  • no battery rattle or other noise
  • 10 years performance guarantee by a company known to have best service
  • new/upgraded heads will be made available for purchase as separate parts

Cons:

  • as slippery as regular pens (but not as bad as stainless steel pens)
  • anodization will show signs of rough carry much faster than regular pen finishes
  • more expensive than O'Pen
  • short Eneloop runtime on Hi-mode
  • extremely short Alkaline runtime on Hi-mode, shocking for non-flashaholics

Relative:

  • 3 brightness levels (do you want more, maybe a sub-lumen mode?)
  • no blinky modes nor hidden modes
  • limited range of fashionable colors and fashion/personal taste does change over time
  • very smooth beam pattern, big even hotspot, bright spill; floodiness only suitable for close-range lighting application, not a bit throwy
  • may flicker with poor conditioned cells or not firmly tightened body parts duh
  • Hi-mode gets hot fast, requires cooling then
  • pocket clip is removable but pen wasn't designed to be used without a clip
  • switch is harder to actuate than Preon P2's, still accidental activation possible if not locked out

For eventual reference purposes and discussion, notable forum threads so far are, with the quality of the review work being evaluated with 5 stars max:

  1. 2013-04-03, 4sevens : Announcing the FOURSEVENS PenLight!
  2. 2013-04-04, NickBose : New Preon Penlight FourSeven
  3. 2013-04-05, Ouchyfoot : NEW: Foursevens Preon Penlight
  4. 2013-04-05, Noir : Foursevens Preon Penlight
  5. 2013-04-18, kreisler : Review: Foursevens Preon PenLight Olight O'Pen (2xAAA, XP-G2), ★★
  6. 2013-04-21, jtice : 4Sevens Preon Pen Light Review,
  7. 2013-04-23, wings400 : Olight O'pen... WTH?
  8. 2013-05-03, selfbuilt : Foursevens Preon Penlight (XP-G2, 2xAAA) Review: RUNTIMES, BEAMSHOT, VIDEO and more!, ★★★★
  9. 2013-05-08, AardvarkSagus : FOURSEVENS Preon Penlight Review - A Layman's Perspective,
  10. 2013-05-15, gunga : 4Sevens Preon Penlight Quickshot Review, ★★
  11. 2013-05-21, gopajti : *Pictures* Foursevens Preon Penlight (2*AAA, XP-G2), ★★
  12. 2013-06-02, candle lamp : Olight O'Pen [ XP-G2 R5, 2xAAA Ni-MH or Alkarine ] Review, ★★
  13. 2013-06-14, fatigus : OLIGHT O'Pen review, ★★
  14. 2013-06-18, Mev : FourSevens Preon Penlight Review, ★★
  15. 2013-06-20, run4jc : Mini Review - first impressions - Four Sevens Preon Penlight, ★★
  16. 2013-08-09, njet212 : Preon PenLight Quick Impression ( a lot of pics ), ★★
  17. 2013-12-11, cre8ure : Review - olight p20 o’pen,
  18. ( ..listing to be continued stay atún.. )

After the rebranding period in winter 2011/12 from "4Sevens" to "Foursevens" until now, spring 2013, retail customers did not see (m)any new entries in 47's catalog apart from XP-G Quarks with updated XP-G2 LED's. In February 2013 scene followers got to watch what the designers had been working on since, new product creations. Prototypes of this and that were presented by Mr. David Chow, top functionary of both Foursevens and Olight companies, including a set of fashionable colorful pens. Well, they surely did look like ordinary not too serious pens, and their screaming colors helped this first impression. One month later jojo leaked a youtube clip showing a similar product, the O'Pen by Olight; this must have been the same product that Mr. Chow had shown earlier as planned Foursevens release! Before rumors could spread, in early April 2013 4sevens eventually announced the market availability of the penlight issued under the Foursevens label in 4 color choices —black (Stealth Black), blue (Midnight Blue), brown (Exquisite Mocha), and red (Burnt Orange)— and as part of the Preon family, which gave its sale a head start of a couple of weeks. ernsanada was the first on the forums to post RL photos, gopajti followed shortly after with high res gallery. As of now the product is also readily available branded as Olight O'Pen in pretty much the same color choices.

For a quick overview of the official specs please compare PenLight vs. O'Pen:

Interesting to note, Olight publishes results for the ANSI/NEMA FL-1 flashlight testing standard including IPX-rating and drop impact resistance, Foursevens doesn't. Olight also lists output/runtime data for 2 different cell chemistries. On the other hand, Foursevens details on the beam angle, Olight doesn't. In case of potential warranty claims, flashlight companies are on the safer side if they did not specify a rating for drop impact resistance or waterproofness because such ratings are easily misunderstood by ignorant or imprudent users. The less is claimed by the manufacturer, the less can be claimed by the consumer in case of a technical problem with the product.

My own measurements of size and weight are:

basic physical measurements
length 136.6mm 5.378in
inner diameter (for hosting batteries) 10.6mm 0.417in
diameter of switch cover 7.0mm 0.275in
diameter in the middle of the penlight 13.5mm 0.531in
diameter at head 12.0mm 0.472in
diameter at stainless steel bezel 10.6mm 0.417in
OTF diameter (bezel inner diameter) 7.95mm 0.313in
bezel depth (glass lens recession) 2.4mm 0.094in
retail package, total weight 79g (on a +1g kitchen scale) 2.79oz
flashlight weight without batteries 22g (on a +1g kitchen scale) 0.78oz
flashlight weight with 2x Eneloop AAA 45g (on a +1g kitchen scale) 1.59oz

The below picture shows everything what you get (the Eneloops are added for illustration purpose), the 79g of total weight (mouse over to flip stuff!): flashlight, plastic retail box, printed manual, 2 colorless spare o-rings, 2x Duracell AAA, and that's it. The contents are plain and let's admit, nothing to be impressed about. The Olight O'Pen retail packaging is a bit fancier imho, have you seen it? Like most retail boxes, both versions, attractive enough, would serve equally well as gift box imo:

( mouse over to flip stuff )

Features / Value: ★★★★★

The 47's PenLight is a small, light-weight, IPX-8 rated water resistant 2xAAA flashlight, comes with 10 years warranty, optional upgradable heads (in future) and a long list of features. In an effort to keep this review concise and to the point and not repeat myself too often, please check again the list of Pro's to learn about the features. After looking at the early official presentational photos i already had a notion of what the product would look and feel like in reality, and that most likely i would like it. If the product was constructed and executed well, as to be expected from a professional commercial production light by premium brand Foursevens or Olight, what could possibly let me down? I received the light, played with it for 5 mins and was proven right. Out of the box, the PenLight lived up to my expectations, it was and performed as imagined, as expected, with no disappointments of any kind, bull's eye!

Its highly likable elegant design, sleek and compact, should prove an instant pleaser to everyone among the enthusiastic crowd because what makes this new product imho more attractive than other lights with similar 2xAAA form factor is: it truly looks and feels like a regular ball pen! Such a powerful non-LiIon driven lighting tool disguised in traditional pen format should really appeal to a larger or new audience who would otherwise not intend to carry a real flashlight, on a daily basis or not, doesn't matter — except for the colors maybe, which are subject to passing fashion, time, trends, and changing personal taste:

Penlights don't have to be long as can be witnessed by the Tank007 E11 and for sure, pens don't need to be longer than needed. Foursevens Titanium Pen, for example, is only 103.5mm long. After comparing the PenLight's 136.6mm with a bunch of pens in the household i've come to the conclusion that its length is average. Perfect, or exact average, so to speak.

(click to enlarge!)

The PenLight is taller than 3x Eneloop AAA's. For the following photo i managed to stack 2x Eneloop AAA's only, sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused. Yep, the background is my wall plastered with dino greeting cards. They bring joy into one's life!

(click to enlarge!)

In his youtube clip presenting the PenLight selfbuilt delivers moving pictures of the red Preon 2 popular flashlight versus the burnt-orange PenLight. Apart from the difference in length, maybe more striking to note is the difference in geometrical shape: the Preon 2 has an overall concave shape, the head is enlarged with respect to the body, whereas the PenLight has an overall convex shape, tail and head are narrower than the body. Convex shaped flashlights are totally atypical in the scene (well, you might find a whole bunch of them in Tank007's catalog rofl) but it is indeed one of the key geometrical design factors to make a penlight, e.g. Preon, look like a pen. Conically shaped heads do facilitate the sliding of penlights into pockets, so in theory the PenLight slides in pockets better than the Preon P2. No big deal though since both models are ultra-sleek to start with.

Compared to the older models Preon 1 and 2, this new Preon model is fully current controlled on all brightness levels. Gone is the PWM or any other stroboscopic effect. With 2 lights in the same hand and wagging in front of the digicam, i captured the absence of any PWM on the Preon PenLight versus the existence of varied frequency PWM on the Tank007 ES12 keychain light:

To be fair, let's note that current controlled lights is nothing new or extraordinary with premium brand flashlights. It is rather standard and common nowadays, even with 1xAAA keychain lights (see Preon Revo, Lumintop Worm or Klarus MiX6); maybe at the time of Preon 1 and Preon 2 market release it was a bit less common. Be it as it may, finally the new Preon got rid of the stroboscopic effect, which makes it stand out a bit more compared to budget penlight offerings. Despite the modes being current controlled, fortunately there is no notable tint shift between the three modes. The beam looks cool pure white with no greenish or lime hue on Lo, Med, or Hi. The pure white CW tint is as great as with other XP-G2 lights, e.g. Thrunite Archer 1A, Saber 1A, or EagleTac XP-G2 dropins, and has become a hallmark feature "of all XP-G2's"; at least that's what the informed buyer expects from any 2nd gen XP-G CW: that it pleases and does not disappoint with regard to tint. No greenishness or blueishness in the beam, that's a real plus in my books, and a major improvement over early 1st gen XP-G CW flashlight models!

Let's talk about the mode memory first, since 47's implementation of this welcome feature differs from other manufacturers' approach. Mode memory, for example in budget lights, typically means that the last mode is memorized if the light was ON for a minimum time period, say 3.0+ seconds. That is rather unpractical for 3 reasons: 1. If you want to deliberately "save" a particular mode, quickly, e.g. the Lo-mode before entering a dark situation where higher modes would be very disturbing, unpleasant or else, then you must cycle through the mode sequence, hold at your desired Low mode and count 1-2-3-4-.. seconds to be sure that you waited long enough. Counting and waiting are a nuisance. I hate waiting and who doesn't! 2. If, in the same dark situation, you need the Lo-mode for a short flash only, i.e. an illumination task shorter than 4 seconds, then your saved Lo-mode will be erased from the memory and the next time you turn on the light the subsequent mode would be active; on the Tank007 E09 that would be the blinding ~92 Fenix lumens Hi-mode lol! 3. If you want to keep the Lo-mode saved in the memory whenever you turn the light on, you must always think about it and make sure that the light has been on for at least 3-4 seconds. Don't laugh but in the long run this does cost your nerves and energy. A moment of inattention, you flash the light for 2.9sec only, and gone is the memorized Lo-mode!

In contrast to the above, 47's implementation of the mode memory is much more practical and natural and consists of 2 facets, a "hybrid": [A]. the last mode is memorized if the light was OFF for a minimum time period, namely off for at least 1.6+ seconds; [B]. if the last mode was memorized, then the subsequent mode will always be the Lo-mode.

The logical reasoning behind 47's approach is that with [A] the user does not need to think anymore about waiting times to save a particular mode. He/she turns the light on with a full click, quickly cycles through the mode sequence by tapping on the reverse clicky and, when the desired mode is reached, instantly turns the light off with another full click. It does not matter how long or how short the last mode was on. The last mode after the full click will be memorized, because operating the switch normally with full clicks consumes time, usually longer than 1.5sec, and it is during this slight time period that memory gets activated. In most practical situations whenever you turn off your light, you do so deliberately because you don't need/want the light anymore, hence you would leave the light turned off for over 1.5sec, wouldn't you? — well, unless you want to send in morse code ;=) Doctors, for example, who need a penlight to use on Med-mode all the time, do get their desired Med-mode all the time, no matter how short they flash into the patient's eyes or mouth. For this, all they need to do is operating the penlight with full clicks all the time. One full click for on, another full click for off. No thinking required. The thumb's muscle memory does the job.

The anti-blinding idea behind [B] is as clever. Once in the dark, you cannot get into blinding yourself or others and you don't need to worry or remember how high the next mode in your sequence, after the memorized mode, will be, because it is going to be Lo-mode. In other words, after your memorized current mode the following mode sequence always starts with the Lo-mode:

Since the light has 3 modes only, the above scheme results in 2 trivial cases and only the memorized Med-mode bares the clever feature. Depending on which the memorized mode is, 3 cases are possible and their mode sequences are:

  1. memorized Med-mode → Lo-mode → Med-mode → Hi-mode → Lo → ..etc..
  2. memorized Hi-mode → Lo-mode → Med-mode → Hi-mode → Lo → ..etc.. (trivial case)
  3. memorized Lo-mode → Med-mode → Hi-mode → Lo → Med → ..etc.. (trivial case)

If the light had 4 or 5 brightness levels, then you'd probably realize faster why [B] is such a great practical feature: [A] lets the user start off its preferred and quickly saved level, and [B] lets the user be only 1 tap away from restarting the cycle from the lowest level, similar to a reset or reboot. This way the user can ramp up the desired brightness level in a safe and controlled manner without spending energy on thoughts and thinking. Let's not forget that most non-tactical multi-mode lights without mode memory, especially smaller lights, start off with the lowest level too for the exact same reason, the safety and control aspect, not killing one's night vision, not blinding others, accidental or unintended tapping of the switch, etc.

Sure, some users who do expect, want, or prefer Hi-mode to follow the memorized Med-mode could argue that [B] is confusing, unfamiliar and tests their patience by needing to tap the switch another 2 times in order to finally reach their desired Hi-mode. But imho in their case the discussion would boil down to matters of taste, preference or habit, rather than to more stringent aspects such as safety and control as design guidelines. In any case everybody is to admit that no harm is done: [B] is a harmless, unobtrusive, inoffensive and rather safe clever feature!

Design / Build Quality: ★★★★★

The penlight is composed of 4 main parts:

  1. head w/ stainless steel bezel, glass lens, reflector, Cree XP-G2 LED, driver
  2. lower aluminum body
  3. upper aluminum body
  4. integrated switch system w/ clicky, tail cap, switch cover

Build quality, fit and finish of all parts and subparts are top-notch, there is absolutely nothing to complain about. Designing, engineering, machining, production were obviously executed with meticulous care. The result is a product perfected in all its details.

For the following pictures i removed the o-rings to get a better look at the o-ring grooves. Note that the tail —and probably the head too!— uses a smaller o-ring (dimensions: 8.0×10.0×1.0mm), whereas the supplied 2 o-rings are spares for the bigger o-ring (dimensions: 9.0×11.0×1.0mm), seated between the lower and the upper body. Since the user isn't really supposed to unscrew the tail part nor the head part, the 2 spares for the big o-ring and 0 spares for the smaller o-rings do make some sense. Colorless o-rings, hmm.. i've never seen that before, somehow cool stuff:

To begin with, the XP-G2 emitter is well-centered, that is the best it can get at such a small scale:

(click to enlarge!)

Tint is an untinted frosty pure CoolWhite with a non-existent corona, and no greenishness, lime or yellowishness anywhere across the beam profile. The tiny LOP reflector produces a sizable even hotspot with no donut hole. The designers take pride in how much effort was invested in optimizing the reflector to produce the desired appearance: a very nice floody beam and, at a certain distance, free of corona artifacts or related irregularities. The smoothness of the beam is very much comparable to the famed nice smooth beam of the well-known Klarus MiX6 flashlight.

In Going Gear's video Mr. Chow demonstrates how the head can be screwed off:

DBCstm managed to unscrew the head too. For the sake of this review i really wanted to and i tried hard, with anti-slip rubber gloves and Swiss-made pliers yet much to my surprise i was not able to unscrew the head, oh well, never mind. As we can tell, the threads are square-cut and the junction is sealed by an o-ring (black o-ring in the video, might be colorless in my production version). He also mentions that the head is planned to serve as "exchangeable, upgradable" Preon part when newer LED's come out and that they're looking into a version with a red LED for pilots, star-gazers or similar low light applications. For sure, Preon 1/Preon 2 parts are not interchangeable with the Preon PenLight.

The stainless steel bezel is a beautifully machined part, generously chamfered on the outside and double-beveled on the inside. It looks and feels harmonic and very nice, designed no doubt with great attention to professional detail and high-precision. The glass lens, padded by a tiny o-ring, is generously recessed by 2½mm into the interior. The combination of generous recession, stainless steel bezel, and the tiny aperture of OTF ø7.95mm should provide a reasonable deal of protection against EDC challenges, such as handbag carry and minor impacts. Also, a smaller glass lens is less likely to break or get scratched than an extended glass surface; a small thick hard plastic lens would practically never fail. Olight had spec'ed 1.5m drop resistance for the O'Pen, a number which is btw invalid because the revised ANSI FL-1 standard requires the manufacturer to state the meters in integral numbers (i.e. either 1m or 2m, and not anything in between!); please note that Foursevens did not issue any impact resistance rating for the PenLight. Misuses as poking icepick or cocktail stirrer are not covered by the Foursevens warranty, so by all means the penlight is still a flashlight, not a pen, and we treat our flashlights with respect, don't we?

The division of the battery compartment into a screwable 2-part system, lower body vs. upper body, is solely there to make the product resemble more the design of an actual typical pen; you don't need and won't find such an artificial division on a regular penlight, see 4Sevens Preon 2, Nextorch K3, Streamlight Stylus, or Terralux Lightstar 80. Well, since i have not managed to screw the head off, parting the body in the middle is for me the only sensible way to get access to the cells and exchange them. The tube's inner diameter is 10.6mm and Eneloops are a snug fit with no rattle. I tried to insert minimally Scotch taped Eneloop AAA's, and those would not glide down to the head. That's when i realized that the head has to be off-screwable, in case a thick cell is stuck in the battery compartment. The multi-part construction of the penlight makes the product fully serviceable with ease, e.g. where/when leaking Alkalines would normally pose a real servicing problem. The threads between lower and upper body are cleanly square-cut (as any other threads on this light!) and fully anodized, and allow for lock-out. The middle metallic ring is for decorative purposes, a typical design element on pens. Olight's ring bears the good-looking inscription "O'Pen" and the body has a serial number marking. Neither exists on the Foursevens PenLight at the respective spots. The anodization on the square-cut threads, both on the outside male threading of the lower body and on the inside female threading of the upper body, well .. we are going to learn after months of usage how well it holds up against frequent screwing and unscrewing. Minor note, the o-ring at this junction point is colorless (not black!) on my sample, perfectly dimensioned and seated, and came pre-lubed with grease. I am confirming that it fulfills its intended function to waterproof the light and eliminate play between the threading parts.

Once the lower and the upper body are screwed together fully tightened, it leaves no gap between the decorative metal ring and the upper body. Under a magnifying glass one can hardly see that the upper body does not touch the metal ring. This is good and supposed to be like that because it means that the threads force the upper body to tighten against the circular cross-sectional profile of the lower aluminum body to establish electrical contact for the closed circuit path, and not against the decorative metal ring, which would prevent exactly that. The perfect fit with its strict tolerances showcase mature design and professional machining by the makers of the product. In fact, this type of contact design is in a way superior to the classic clicky tailcap where the fit and function depends on how deeply/firmly/loosely the aluminum retainer ring is screwed and if aluminum spacers are optional parts of the tailcap assembly.

Note that, while the anodized threads enable easy and fast lockout, the nature of such a high-precision junction demands for care: that the bare aluminum contact points and the area around the metal ring are absolutely clean, and that the user is aware of screwing the parts rather firmly tight. Otherwise one risks making a semi-loose connection between the two body parts which shows as flickering to be noticed especially in Hi-mode.

The brim of the upper body has a tiny "exdent" (or how would you call the material opposite of an indent or notch?). It's so tiny one wouldnt even notice that it's there, on the very brim. The exdent is to fit into the matching notch of the pocket clip ring and thereby serves to hold the pocket clip in place and prevent it from being loose or unwanted swiveling. What a constructional detail, impressive!

In the following pic i removed the pocket clip and screwed tail and upper body back together. As we can witness, this leaves a gap, not very nice looking. Personally i don't make use of the clipping function of the pocket clip but i still appreciate the clip for being there. Since it does not swivel, it serves as well-working anti-roll device. For these two apparent reasons i recommend leaving the pocket clip on. Clearly, it is not supposed to be taken off:

The pocket clip is short and sturdy, with a stronger retention force than you'll experience with pocket clips of ordinary pens. I have not collected much RL experience with pens or penlights and their pocket clipping function and reliability. I don't edc clipped pens and the Foursevens Preon PenLight is to me the first notable product of its kind in my collection. Just by looking at the construction and feeling the retention force, i can readily tell that the PenLight's pocket clip quality is in a completely different quality league than the one of my Tank007 E11. 4Sevens is known for top quality pocket clips, whether for the Quark series or the Preon P1/P2 series. Well, maybe the PenLight's clip is somewhat on the short side, measuring 39.0mm length only. Hey, what's the length of the Preon P2 pocket clip, anyone knows?

For comparison purposes, it is known that the iTP A3 EOS Upgraded removable pocket clip was a flimsy piece of **** , material thickness 0.60mm. It is also known that the Fenix LD20 R5 removable pocket clip is very sturdy and of excellent quality, material thickness 0.80mm. The PenLight pocket clip shares the same thickness, 0.80mm, very nice, i like it. Note that the 4Sevens Quark clip is even sturdier, material thickness 1.00mm+!! Also note that the construction of the clip would allow the user to easily re-bend the clip if needed, by widening or narrowing the bending angle.

The tail is to be considered as a single assembly unit. Its parts (golden spring, clicky with square-cut threads, brown switch cover ø7.0mm, brown tail cap ø13.5mm) form an integrated system. I would not know of any nondestructive method to disassemble this compact sealed system. Neither am i going to dump it into a glass of water to test its waterproofness. I cannot tell if there is a rubber boot inserted between the plastic clicky and the metallic switch cover. The E10 does not have such a rubber part, the Preon P2 does. If you need to service the switch cover for some reason (read below) and found out a nondestructive way how to do so, please share the knowledge for future reference. The switch assembly on my sample is really perfect. I would not expect anything less from a premium brand tbh.

While the clicky needs very short travel distance to engage already, it cannot be done without a firm depress: 1080g to actuate it (boeingman had measured 850g) and 1180g to disengage it. Accidental activation could still be an issue, depending on how you carry the light, but Preon P2 owners believe that it should become less of a serious issue with the Preon PenLight. They feel that the clicky's mechanical properties got really improved over the Preon P2/P1. And don't forget that the lockout is an even better strategy to prevent accidental activation. With the Preon P2, lockout was possible too tho.

Youtuber John Trotto's sample appears to have a slightly loose switch cover; in the OFF-position his rotates and rattles a bit, eventually produces noise. In the video clip i can clearly see what he is talking about. However, this is 100% definitely not the case with my copy. My switch button is not loose at all, does not rattle, cannot rotate or move sideways or into a skew position or produce any sound other than the loud clicky click itself; there is absolutely zero wiggle, zero play of any kind. Clearly, in the OFF- and ON-position, my button is firm and solid in every respect, and it allows for a single movement only: straight depressing. Since the clicky assembly cannot be disassembled by the user, users who do experience a minimally wobbly switch cover could ask around if fellow users experience the same. Maybe they find out in the end that it is normal for most production samples and that i just got lucky. I am very satisfied with the switch and its cover. The only other light in my collection which comes with a metal switch cover is the Tank007 E10, and that one was fairly wobbly and loose and i had documented it in detail; I was able to fix the main issue, the cover getting jammed when depressed off-center. In contrast, all is perfect with the PenLight's switch and switch cover. Depressing the button very off-center or applying the thumb force at an angle will not jam the depressing movement; all there is, is that you can feel how the metal cover scrapes along some inner metal side, without getting jammed. I checked with Parker pens and found out that their switch/cover does not scrape along metal when the thumb force is applied at an angle. Point is, the PenLight's switch won't jam, fail or disappoint you; in a way its design, the concave shape of the switch cover, guides your thumb naturally to depress it in the optimal way, fully centered and, if you do happen to depress it very off-center, automatically corrects your thumb's position for a more centered depressing, and by then you might not have even been aware of any metal-against-metal scraping.

Battery Life: ★★★

4Sevens published runtimes for the included Duracell alkaline cells, Lo/Med/Hi : 30h/8h/22min. Olight published longer runtimes for Eneloop 800mAh, Lo/Med/Hi : 30h/7.5h/42min. selfbuilt had measured ÷/6h33min/8min (Alkaline) and ÷/7h5min/37min (Eneloop), he did not measure runtimes on Lo-mode. Wow.

Over 7hrs+ on Med-mode, that's wow long. Top-efficient driver at this brightness level. And less than 40mins on Hi-mode@Eneloop, that's wow short. Think of it, all premium 1xAAA keychain flashlights are designed in such a way that they run for ~1.0hr on Hi-mode at stabilized 65-75 Fenix lumens. 1h runtime on Max-mode is a very typical design guideline for most flashlights, compare the specs of 1xAA, 1x18650 or multi-emitter flashlights of the Top10 China-made flashlight companies. Here, i would have preferred getting ~1.0hr out of my 2x Eneloop AAA as well.

Around 20mins on Hi-mode@Alkaline, that's crazy short. Non-flashaholics would think badly about the light, if they did not know any better concerning the inappropriateness of Alkalines in power LED flashlights. On Alkalines the output cannot be stabilized at any moment, a horror for flashaholics, and the runtime is ultra-short, a horror for non-flashaholics. Therefore it is highly advisable to include a set of original Panasonic Eneloop AAA's when gifting the PenLight/O'Pen to a non-flashaholic and to tell them not to dispose of the "batteries"[sic] once they're depleted.

I performed several continuous runtime tests, here are my own measurements:

runtime tests
Refresh&Analyze capacity Hi-mode Med-mode Lo-mode
Eneloop, cell#1 & cell#2 747mAh & 753mAh 30min tbd tbd
Eneloop, cell#5 & cell#7 786mAh & 780mAh 32min tbd tbd
Alkaline JUN-2018 20min tbd tbd

Make sure that your 2 cells are matching (brand, model, age, condition, max capacity, voltage), otherwise you risk degrading them faster. Also the battery's performance and therefore the light's performance is limited by the worse cell. One poorly performing cell can significantly reduce the runtime. Cell matching refers to grouping batteries with similar "actual" capacity. To perform this, use the Refresh&Analyze mode of your charger to determine the actual Eneloop capacity. Group Eneloop cells with capacity within about ±5% of the measured capacity and you're good to go.

Light Output: ★★★★★

The printed manual states that the operating voltage ranges between "0.9 - 3V". Eneloop AAA's taken hot off my Nitecore i4 V2 charger are at 1.4800V, so 2 of such high quality NiMH cells in series amount to ~2.96V. The supplied sealed Duracell AAA Alkaline's were at 1.6140V/1.6035V, so together ~3.22V. That's a difference of ~¼ Volts, max. 0.2600V. Typical current draw on fully charged Eneloop is 0.019A (Lo), 0.100A (Med), 1.80A (Hi), on brand-new Duracell AAA Alkaline 0.028A (Lo), 0.180A (Med), 1.70A (Hi). Hence battery power consumption on Hi-mode is 5.328W@Eneloop (=2.96×1.80) vs 5.474W@Duracell (=3.22×1.70), a difference of less than -3%.

The Olight O'Pen manual states that the Hi-mode output is 150lm@Eneloop vs 180lm@Duracell, a difference of -17%. At 180lm, my eyes can discern a 17% brightness difference. To me, 180 Fenix lumens (LD20 R5) are much brighter than 150 Fenix lumens lights (D25A XM-L). But in the case of the 4Sevens PenLight, i don't see any difference. Numerically we've just calculated a 3% brightness drop, in reality all i can see is that the PenLight is virtually as bright as my LD20 R5, no matter which cell chemistry is being used. If O'Pen and PenLight are identical lights, then the "150lm" rating must fall under the company's understatements following their known under-promise over-deliver idea.

On Med- and Lo-modes, the brightness difference between Eneloop (42/4.5lm, O'Pen specs) vs. Alkaline (50/5lm, O'Pen specs) is, as indicated by the higher currents on Alkalines, perceivable. Not a big deal, just interesting to note that current draw changes with different cell chemistry.

At some future point, i am going to post more accurate output measurements with reference to the Fenix lumens scale. Since Fenix adopted the ANSI rating standards in late 2010 more rigorously, in a much stricter way, they do not under-rate, under-promise, nor over-rate or over-deliver anymore. Fenix lumens are spot-on with respect to their own Fenix lumens scale. A recent, very well-built DIY lumens light box, a true integrating sphere with automatic data logging, is available for testing my personal lights; it is calibrated in such a way that it reproduces official post-2010 published Fenix ANSI lumens ratings, accurate within a ±10% tolerance band.

At this point all i can tell with certainty is that the Preon PenLight is crazy bright: indeed as bright as the Fenix LD20 R5, which is rated at 180 Fenix lumens. reppans, too, confirmed my visual finding with his light meter measurement method, which a. o. returns 200 lumens for the "280 ANSI FL-1 lumens"-manufacturer rated SC52 flashlight. selfbuilt had posted "260 ANSI FL-1 lumens" for his lumens measurements, which is a flatteringly high number for our reviewed flashlight; it means that the SC52 is only a bit brighter than the PenLight, namely by ~20 lumens on the Fenix scale or ~30 lumens on the ZebraBuilt scale. More accurate and reconfirmed Fenix lumens numbers for the PenLight, the SC52, and their numerical difference will be provided in near future. But selfbuilt and reppans already established a fact: the PenLight is almost as bright as the admired SC52, a light of which we all know that it is insanely bright on 1x Eneloop AA, i.e. not 280 Fenix lumens, not 215 Fenix lumens (as the LD22 G2), but around ~200 Fenix lumens nonetheless, beating the legendary 2x Eneloop AA light Fenix LD20 R5 which is still in production btw. In any case, congrats 4Sevens to this achievement, hats off!

(image of flashlight LED's, click to enlarge)

Note that the Fenix LD2X-model series was updated several times (XP-G S2, LD22, XP-G2) and their latest model, the LD22 G2 puts out 215 Fenix lumens with 2x Eneloop cells. The known super efficient Quark XP-G2 outputs 205 lumens, a probably conservative specification but in about the same ballpark. 2xAA lights are brighter than 2xAAA lights mostly because of the higher sustainable current, e.g. 2.10A. The PenLight draws 1.80A from each of your pampered Eneloops, are you realizing how high of a current that is for AAA-sized cells? It's crazy high and you don't want to draw any higher than that. For comparison, the best-selling Tank007 E09/ES12 1xAAA flashlight draws a constant ~1.8A current too, and back then reviewers and readers agreed that drawing such a high current from a single AAA Eneloop was insane and at loss of efficiency. It still is. Alkalines cannot by any means sustain such a high drain for longer than 5 minutes at which the light drops out of stabilized brightness regulation. So if you plan on using Hi-mode frequently or for several minutes at a time, then you better feed Eneloop and no other NiMH's, NiCd's or Alkalines.

(image of flashlight size comparison)

The beam pattern is rather unique, with a large even clean hotspot and a very soft transition, where the corona would normally be, to the unusually bright uniform spill area. Basically the tiny LOP reflector produces an incredibly smooth, beautiful flood beam. The hotspot's round border is diffused and any corona artifacts or donut hole appearance absent — at least from a minimum distance to a white wall, as usual. Again, most striking are the big size of the hotspot and the immense brightness of the spill. In many ways the beam compares best to the Klarus MiX6 which, too, is known and admired for its extraordinary beautiful smooth flood beam.

The following white wall beamshots were taken with auto-white balance and automatic exposure, and standard Eneloops. Most of the lights are CW's with varying degrees of greenishness: Worm SS, ITP A3 R5 are more on the greenish side, LD01 R4, P1A less so, E09, Ti, 1A least if at all, D25A, JR30 in their own class of amazement. As mentioned earlier, the PenLight beam seems untinted or with no tint variations across the entire beam profile, i.e. it is a uniformly (and seemingly) pure white CW, similar to the praised newer XP-G EagleTac drop-in modules (XP-G S2 CW, XP-G2 R5 CW) or the new freezing CW Thrunite 1A lights (Archer, Saber). The very blueish Police3W and the very warmish D25LC2 NW are included in the photo series to test the auto-settings of the poor digicam:

( mouse over to change mode! )

The series tells you something about the comparative tint (see the greenishness of Worm, ITP A3 to the lesser greenish LD01 or P1A), the comparative hotspot size (see D25LC2, Police3W and Ti), and most of all the light intensity (lux) at the wall. The top row 3 pics have very similar beam characteristics and they suggest that the PenLight's max beam distance is comparable to such typical XP-G 1xAAA keychain flashlights, and that a throwier light would outthrow the PenLight in no time, e.g. the E09 V2 or any of the presented 1xAA flashlights. Note how large the PenLight's hotspot is; in size, it dwarfs all other hotspots, including the big XM-L hotspot of the D25LC2:

FYI the beams crossed each other before they hit the white wall right next to the bridget. The digicam was positioned 2.5m from the wall, the PenLight was to my right, the other light to my left, both lights were at 2.0m from the wall and at 1.5m to each other. Bridget's frame's 0.5?×0.6m². You could calculate the beam's travel distance with Pythagoras' theorem if you still know your maths lol. And if you do have forgotten how to manipulate the theorem, then never mind. Who cares, right?


But you should not have forgotten the bridget lady on the wall. Check the last 5 mins of the Point of No Return (1993) flick, and you'll never forget again! :P

Well, this is still a new light, so more and more user contributions and reviews will see the olight of day. If beamshots are your kind of bread, then check out reppans' nice comparison of tints, gopajti's outdoor beamshots, DBCstm's white wall shots, and many more to come.

Summary: ★★★★★

"What's there not to like?". Exactly. I was asked this question by a fellow forum friend who is not a particular Foursevens supporter. Following a strikingly simple yet unseen before idea, the PenLight's unique design in form of an actual regular ballpoint pen is a marvelous technical and esthetic realization down to the most minute detail and in total a mature, consummate product creation right off its initial market release, with no flaws or shortcomings. While DX boasts with a plethora of kiddo flashlights which look like toys, pigs, dildos, laser pointers, or erh, funny flashlights!, this amazing original Foursevens/Olight construction would probably win the flashlight design innovation prize in 2013. Expensive pens are typical and somewhat boring standard gifts, nonetheless are they appreciated as something valuable, useful, long-lasting and timeless. You betcha, gifting real 180 lumens disguised in attractive pen looks should surprise and excite any uninitiated. If it weren't for the questionable likability of the 4 available colors, this new 4Sevens flashlight, a clear improvement over the successful Preon P2, should appeal to a vast audience in particular embracing non-flashaholics, kids, teens, girls, ladies, women, moms, the elderly, but also professionals with explicit penlight needs, shop workers, maintenance men, doctors, machinists. Probably the smartest EDC light invention in all 2013 and thanks to O'Pen's competitive pricing already a rising sales star in the scene, at the time of writing the PenLight/O'Pen has to be the brightest and best product of its kind on the current market, hands down. thanks s*n*r* for 10yrs full warranty on the s**r* model, greetings *n*r**s!

Err, and the difference between this and the Foursevens one is ……?

Edit>> posting by Foursevens on the other side in response to a similar question:

“It is indeed the same light. It was a product developed together.
The O’pen will only be distributed outside the USA. While the PenLight does not have any distribution limits.”

Must be a good light if it took two companies to develop it. :wink:

Some different colours? Or is it just the photos?

See my edited post above. Same light.

That would be a seemingly nice light for gun work, but not at $60 for me…

¿¿$ 60?? Not for me of course. What happens to the manufacturers? :frowning:

Thanks, Woody! I wonder if FastTech will stock them (I put in a request). :bigsmile:

blown away by the creativity of that costume for the dog!

+1 LOL

LOL I know the owner of Foursevens also runs Olight but seriously?

$60??? Sheesh…. I could get 2, maybe 3 nice lights for that kind of money. Think I’ll pass……

FastTech are selling these in black for $34.74.
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1/10003907/1332303

Just look at it!

I made a promise to myself I would not buy any more lights unless they had Nichia 219 because I really want the higher CRI.

But the O’Pen has this cool factor of not looking at all like a light. Plus, it’s L-M-H! I don’t need it, but I added it to my basket as soon as I saw it at FT!

I need help. >.<

What’s wrong with you Chloe? I have been telling myself that I must be strong and resist, and wait for the neutral/high CRI. And now I see this post of yours

The O’PEN seems a way to pricy, especially when compated to the Hugsby XP-2 penlight. I have several of the XP-2s, its bright and very tough little light for under 12 bucks, powered by 2 AAA’s, and a XP-G emitter, coated glass lens, great pocket clip, smooth threads, forward clicky, 1-mode, virtually indestructable, and the same size as a Sharpie pen.

Each to their own opinion, but in mine and likely many others’ opinion - that ugly Hugsby stick can’t be called a pen light :bigsmile: Even the Preon2 doesn’t get my tick.

Let me point out a bit more about this groundbreaking light

- Looks like a pen - probably the MOST important point

- Modern high output LED with spaced out useful modes

- Aluminium reflector

- Deep clip

  • Square threads

As I have mentioned before, my only wish is a neutral/high CRI version, and maybe a single-AAA version which can be made even thinner and lighter.

I like it. But I suspect there will be a notable number of people who will poke fun at it, complaining about this or that. All the better… if it doesn’t sell well there will eventually be some steeper discounting. Then I’ll be sure to buy a couple. :wink:

Please note that the star looks to be somewhat mod-unfriendly. Leads are soldered on the bottom of the star (with small notches on the head sink)

This is just my first impression & I'll update this after actually modding it.

Oh, I'm working on a review too..

So far a simmilar “ugly” Hugsby is the only pocket work light thats pen-sized, that survived a year of abuse at the machine shop. All my other “pen” lights failed or were destroyed from abuse.

There is also Bronte RA02 and RA03 but neither look like pens.

Agreed. From what I’ve seen so far, the Olight O’Pen and FourSevens Preon are the only two that look a lot like pens. And given the attractive FastTech pricing, I’d be more inclined to go with the O’Pen. Smaller lights with clips never seem to work as well as a pen sized object with integrated clip.